Ment4rentnow.com changes

[nate_sf]

Hi All,

 

Today I received the following email from m4rn:

 

Ad guidelines on Men4RentNow have changed to remain compliant with our billing company and VISA's regulations. There are terms that are no longer acceptable and will be removed or cause ad denial. These terms include, but are not limited to: erotic, sensual, BDSM and porn.

 

Additionally, rates will no longer display on the site.

 

Your business is very important to us and we want to make sure you understand that this is not our choice but a necessity forced upon us.

 

We wish you continued success and look forward to our continued business relationship.

 

 

Just passing this on. Related to the thread in the Deli, those of us on the m4rn site will all be "Ask Me" for our rates. <sigh>

[maxwellissmart]

Hi All,

 

Today I received the following email from m4rn:

 

Ad guidelines on Men4RentNow have changed to remain compliant with our billing company and VISA's regulations. There are terms that are no longer acceptable and will be removed or cause ad denial. These terms include, but are not limited to: erotic, sensual, BDSM and porn.

 

Additionally, rates will no longer display on the site.

 

Your business is very important to us and we want to make sure you understand that this is not our choice but a necessity forced upon us.

 

We wish you continued success and look forward to our continued business relationship.

 

 

Just passing this on. Related to the thread in the Deli, those of us on the m4rn site will all be "Ask Me" for our rates. <sigh>

 

Nate, I'm going to have to pass on meeting. I only hire escorts with whom I see an amount that I can negotiate down from.

[gallahadesquire]

I can't wait to see the new group of euphemisms people come up with!

[+ Travis69]

Does Rentboy use Visa and will it be happening there also?

[+ Ace]

Just ANOTHER reason to hate them.....

[bigvalboy]

I guess that ends the discussion on whether or not escorts should post rates. I think that this will make it difficult for the escorts unless all of the escorts sites do the same thing. "Ask Me" will be the standard I am assuming. I feel bad for you guys. I know many of you wanted to be up front with your clients.

[Bosguy]

Not surprising.

 

This site has historically not kept up to date on what guys are in what city when and now no rates (which is a total shutdown for me). One more reason for working guys and hiring guys to look elsewhere.

 

Boston Bill

[migueldeltoro]

I posted a similar thread in the Ask an Escort section. I wonder if Rentboy is going to follow as I would think they would have to follow the same policies. Then again, M4RN uses CCBill so that might have a lot to do with it. They've always been prone to censorship.

[Kevin Slater]

God I hate that abysmal fucking site. Have for years. I have yet to receive this ridiculous email, but notice they went ahead and took my rates down anyway. (Well, they've always thought they had free reign to edit ads without consent.) And now, what, I'm supposed to field calls and emails from guys wanting the basic info just because M4RN won't post it? Finally, at long last, this is the last straw. I've cancelled my account, and glad for it.

 

Kevin Slater

[migueldeltoro]

I agree Kevin. In my markets M4RN does little to nothing for me as far as clients anyway. I paid a year in advance and my membership ends mid-October. I'm most likely not going to renew.

[Kevin Slater]

Does Rentboy use Visa and will it be happening there also?

 

I have a call out to the guys there asking this. They've never suffered the idiocies of M4RN, so we're probably fine.

 

Kevin Slater

[migueldeltoro]

Well one advantage I do see is there aren't any more obnoxious porn banners flashing anymore. One of my biggest complaints on Rentboy - too many ads!

[nate_sf]

I have a call out to the guys there asking this. They've never suffered the idiocies of M4RN, so we're probably fine.

 

Kevin Slater

 

Hopefully rentboy will not follow suit. I think it depends on the policies of the billing company and whether the website has the legal wherewithal to challenge a directive from Visa, the billing company, or whatever other entity might be imposing restrictions. Maybe make a change to one of those to something less restrictive.

 

A related example, when I first started doing shoots for Kink's Bound In Public, there was a rule that there could be no watersports on camera. Apparently it was a term from one of their overseas distributors, or something like that. After having done several shoots with them with the no watersports rule, one day they added it into a scene. I asked them what changed and the director said he went to top management and told them they were losing a lot of business with the policy, since people wanted to see watersports amongst everything else. I'm not sure what they did to make the change, but something changed.

[seeker630]

I posted a similar thread in the Ask an Escort section. I wonder if Rentboy is going to follow as I would think they would have to follow the same policies. Then again, M4RN uses CCBill so that might have a lot to do with it. They've always been prone to censorship.

 

A lot of porn sites use CCBill to handle payments - I wonder if that will change as well.

[gallahadesquire]

As a Client, I just got this email from m4rn.com. Maybe the other shoe has dropped?

 

 

 

 

Wanted List Feature: Name Your Price, We Find Him

___________________________________________________________________

 

Dear Client,

 

m4rn-info.com is pleased to introduce our newest feature, the

Wanted List. The Wanted List is designed to make it faster and

easier for you to find escorts and masseurs in your area - and it's

totally free to use.

 

Now you can:

 

1) Post ads for services you are looking for onto the Wanted List,

2) name your price, and

3) let escorts and masseurs reply directly to your posting.

 

You can select a specific day / time, or indicate 'Right Now' if

you are looking to connect immediately with a local escort or

masseur.

 

Your contact information is kept private. You can opt to receive

replies to your posting via email, phone or text message.

 

Why search through thousands of ads? Try the Wanted List and let

us do the work for you! Click on the link below to add your free

posting now:

 

http://www.m4rn-info.com/ds/wanted-list.asp

 

Regards,

 

 

Your Men4RentNow Team

[down_to_business]

If M4RN does implement this no rates policy, it will make the website 100% useless for me and I will no longer be using it.

[Irtwo]

You know, that "Wanted List" isn't a bad idea for all sites to have.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

As a client was occasional business travel, in most of the cities, there are more guys advertising on M4RN than Rentboy. For my hometown (Columbus), today there are 29 ads in M4RN and only 8 ads on Rentboy. I prefer the Rentboy site, but the menu is typically limited.

 

Less information makes it more difficult to make a selection. Could this be a "Netflix" move by M4RN?

[whipped guy]

I never liked M4RN...

 

"These terms include, but are not limited to: erotic, sensual,

BDSM

and porn."

Now I like them even less...

[Xander]

Good god I hate m4rn. Their customer service is horrid and rude on top of it all. If I could put my website link on my ad it wouldn't be so bad... But, nope! I've had pics denied because I had text on my shirt. I've had pics denied because it looked like I was about to kiss someone. The list goes on and on...

 

Now I get to be a little more creative with my advertising budget =D

[rvwnsd]

Goddamned VISA!

 

I think M4RN's assertion that VISA is making them change their policy regarding rates is an example of poorly worded, half-true information. This is purely speculation, but the person who wrote the e-mail is using the term "VISA" when they mean "credit card processor." Processors often base their rates on factors such as channel (internet-based vs in-person) and chargeback/dispute history of the individual merchant and/or of the merchant's industry. It is possible that M4RN would be classified as one type of industry if they allow rates to be displayed and another if they don't, but I would think with a name like "Men For Rent Now" rate display would not make a difference unless. I'm sure they could find a more suitable processor, but they might not have the business savvy to do so. Their loss.

[migueldeltoro]

As a client was occasional business travel, in most of the cities, there are more guys advertising on M4RN than Rentboy. For my hometown (Columbus), today there are 29 ads in M4RN and only 8 ads on Rentboy. I prefer the Rentboy site, but the menu is typically limited.

 

Less information makes it more difficult to make a selection. Could this be a "Netflix" move by M4RN?

 

Half the ads listed on M4RN are dead (lapsed subscriptions). At least that's the way it is in Seattle. It's very frustrating to those of us who pay as our ads are displaced down the search results below these retired escorts' ads.

 

I do agree that M4RN is a better source for clients in secondary markets. When I traveled to Milwaukee I only got one hit from Rentboy but 12 from M4RN. When I went to Chicago it was the opposite.

[sfguy]

Half the ads listed on M4RN are dead (lapsed subscriptions). At least that's the way it is in Seattle. It's very frustrating to those of us who pay as our ads are displaced down the search results below these retired escorts' ads.

As a client, this is one of the reasons I dislike M4RN. I can't always tell who is actually available and who just never took down their ad.

[justaguy]

rvwnsd, you said exactly what I first thought. With "Rent" in the title of the website, it makes absolutely no sense not to be able to put the rate in the basic information.

[adriano46]

This feature in M4RN has been up for a while actually - and I have used it to cull through cities where there were too many profiles to get through. Sometimes it worked, most times you got hits from guys you would not have bothered to look at.

 

Some day, in a new and different world, there will be a rent site that

 

a) On the escort's stats adds whether or not he has tats and percings (such as is found on GayRomeo)

b) Whether or not he is "available" (granted Rentboy has this, as does Rentmen now)

c) His price range for services (and multiple hour charges) - again found on Rentboy and Rentmen

d) His locale in a city (Do you notice how many guys in NYC on Rentboy live IN Central Park???)

e) Have the ability (as Rentmen does, but I do not know how well it works) to let Rentboys know the client is LOOKING.

f) Has some way to VERIFY that the photos shown are factual.